The Economist sees challengers to Apple’s iTunes, iPod juggernaut

22 Comments

“Apple

22 Comments

  5. “A giant comet will crash into the Earth. As a result, millions of iPods could be destroyed, creating a global disaster. …Oh, and some people could be killed, too.”

    Reply

  6. It’s almost embarrassing that the best product is winning for a change. It’s like MS winning is the natural order of things, and we should brace for the inevitable …

    Reply

  7. OK article but again they are trying to make it exciting by over emphasizing the challenge posed by other companies. Nothing is even coming close to “getting it” yet.

    Reply

  10. I thought this was a very good article and Apple knows exactly where they stand. They have to work very hard to keep their lead. In business, there is nothing new about that. Sony, at this stage, is the one who should be worried. The Apple branded mp3 player is what people want. Sony name is just not ringing true with young consumers at the moment.

    Reply

  11. The iPod and iTunes will have won as soon as Janus is broken and everyone who has joined a subscription service has stolen massive libraries of tunes during the 1 free month introductory offer. Subscription will be dead and purchase only will rule. No one will be able to touch iPod, iTunes and iTMS.

    To say that a piece of Microsoft software will not be broken quickly is the same as saying that the sun will not rise tomorrow.

    Reply

  12. Mac jack has jit the nail right on the head. The Economist has published an article based on the assumption that whatever happened in the 80s and 90s with Apple’s computers will happen again with Apple’s iPod. It is like the media wants Microsoft to have its way with online music. Why? Apple did such a great job bringing the iPod and iTunes to Windows users. Would their music listening improve if Apple got out of the picture? Some tech writers need a reality check. The iPod is a smash hit, it is here to stay and there is nothing they can do about it.

    Reply

  14. This is not such a bad article. It’s a little superficial, but it does NOT say Apple is doomed, just that Apple is going to have to “fight hard” to avoid losing its market dominance. Like nearly all of the “press” today, it artificially seeks to inflate drama, even at the risk of accuracy. But it doesn’t actually step over the line; this is AS GOOD AS IT GETS in today’s press.

    Reply

  15. Next thing you know, my Doom III game is going to be a threat to iPods because my game is going to take people away from their music-listening time.

    Well, I’m going to add a new feature to Doom III in the first update. You’ll be able to use your iPod’s party mix as the background music to doom. Forget Nine Inch Nails. You can listen to Johnny Mathis, Burt Bachrach, The Beatles, Willy Nelson or even Elvis as you mop up the floor with our cool new monsters. Maybe even Montavoni!

    Reply

  16. Normally I place great respect in what the Economist has to say. My dad has it delivered to his letter box weekly so I often manage to read it when I visit my parents. However after reading the article on the iPod market I would have to say that as with most other articles written by many journalists about the continueing success of the iPod, this article is fairly wide of the mark. They are assuming that because MS is so huge and dominating that once their subscription services become available everyone will be signing up for them and renting their music. I think if this was going to happen it would have happened buy now with a highter degree of success. The other thing the Economist is assuming is that every iPod owner is going to drop their iPod in favour of MS subscription services and quite frankly I dont see 3 million+ iPod owners dumping thier iPods in favour of some Microsoft device.

    Reply

  17. anyone who says ‘watch out for sony and the mp3-less Atrac player’ is out to lunch..

    MS IS a big deal, because they’re using the same ‘win no matter what’ strategy that won them the PC market with Windows.

    When is Apple going to let people open their own iTunes Stores or Liscence the damn music..

    I’d say when their market share drops from a staggering 75% to around 50% they’ll start worrying ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />

    Reply

  18. I love what Apple has done with music but100 million songs is a fraction of the total music market of 2.7 billion units. (Apple did have 20% market share when the personal computer market was small too).

    Apple’s future domination is not a given because 3 million ipods are sold when there are 6 billion people still without one.

    This is just the beginning for music. Apple is taking charge and keeping the lead for now so let’s have this discussion in 2 years and see if Apple and the iPod remain with the current market share.

    The Mac proves that superior product doesn’t guarantee anything nor does not matter who was first.

    The $100 price point is the holy grail. Whichever company can produce the ipod or ipod clone for under a hundred will move a LOT of units.

    Reply

  19. The $100 price point is the holy grail. Whichever company can produce the ipod or ipod clone for under a hundred will move a LOT of units.

    Apple could also shift a lot more units at the current prices, they are just limited by the manufacturers ability to supply the amount of hard drives necessary to meet demand (in the case of the mini).

    Reply

  21. This line “<Your favorite pundit here> sees challengers to iTMS and iPod” makes me think of “The Sixth Sense”: you really need to have an uncommon view of the reality to see all those corpses. Challengers: Dead even before being released.

    Reply

Reader Feedback

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.